In this interpolated episode of WALKING WITH DANTE, I'd like to look at five Biblical passages that medieval theologians used to codify, justify, and elaborate on the doctrine of Purgatory.

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as I look at these texts to find the rationales behind this new doctrine in Dante's day, brought into church theology formally only a few decades before he wrote COMEDY (and not fully codified into church doctrine until long after Dante's death).

Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:

[02:30] Psalm 49: 13 - 15 and the problem of Sheol (or perhaps "the pit of the grave") as an increasingly complex bit of geography.

[05:42] II Maccabees 12: 39 - 45 and the notion that the living can do something to aid the dead.

[10:39] Luke 16: 19 - 26 and the question of where exactly the poor man Lazarus goes when he dies and heads for Abraham.

[16:47] I Corinthians 3: 11 - 15 and the notion that the resurrection even of the redeemed will be a trial by fire.

[20:11] Philippians 2: 9 - 11 and the tripartite division of the afterlife.